Mutual understanding of religions

Laureaat Freedom of Worship Award 2010

Asma Jahangir Laureaat Freedom of Worship Award 2010

Asma Jahangir is the founder of the Human Rights Commission inPakistan. In 1980 she and other women opened the first law firm in Pakistan run by women, followed by AGHS Legal Aid, a center for free legal advice.

The introduction of the Blasphemy, Zina and Hudood Ordinances during the decade-long regime of General Zia-ul-Haq, generated a number of law suits in which Jahangir was involved.Her commitment led to her house arrest and she and her family received various death threats.One of the most controversial cases was her defense of Safia Bibi, a 13-year blind girl who was raped by her employer in 1983. Safia Bibi was accussed of adultery on the basis of the Zina Ordinance. Jahangir succeeded in annulling the verdict, which was the death penalty. Her defense of a 14-year-old boy, who received the death penalty on the accusation of blasphemy in 1995, led to intimidation of Jahangir and her family in1995. InJanuary 2008 her two daughters and friends were kidnapped and assaulted for filming torn election posters shortly after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination at the end of 2007.

In 1988 she published Divine Sanction? The Hudood Ordinance and in 1992 Children of a Lesser God: Child Prisoners of Pakistan.

Dr. Asma Jahangir (Pakistan, 1952) is a lawyer and human rights activist. Since 2004 she acts as the special UN-rapporteur for freedom of religion. Her efforts advance the mutual understanding of religions in a time of confrontation and violence. In her official capacity she initiates and encourages intercultural dialogue between countries. She operates on the assumption that religion is part of culture and that different religions share sufficient values and standards to allow them to show respect for each others worldviews.